Property website Zoopla to detail share listing plans - report

Reuters•May 18, 2014

LONDON (Reuters) - British property website Zoopla will announce plans this week for a stock market listing that will value the company at about one billion pounds, the Sunday Times newspaper reported.

The flotation would be a boost for newspaper publisher Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) which controls 51 percent of the seven-year-old company, the report added.

Plans were likely to be confirmed on Thursday when DMGT releases it latest financial results. DMGT will sell a "substantial number" of shares in the offering although it wants to remain the largest investor, the report added.

Zoopla refused to comment directly on the report but a spokesman referred to a statement made earlier this year.

"As one of the fastest growing online businesses in the UK, our focus remains on developing our business in a sustainable way. Meanwhile, we are continuing to work with our advisers to consider our strategic options," it said.

Zoopla is Britain's second-largest property website after Rightmove Plc. Its underlying earnings rose 26 percent to 18.7 million pounds between October and March, the Sunday Times said.